Dust in the Stellar Wind

Cosmic dust is everywhere, but we wouldn’t be here without it.  The universe is an infinite cycle of life and death, where old material is recycled and upgraded to become something new, marking the way for a perpetual cosmic recycling of raw materials, where matter is constantly born, destroyed, and reborn.  Stardust literally means cosmic dust particles from space, and it metaphorically describes a magical, romantic, or ethereal quality.  In astronomy, it refers to tiny solid mineral particles created by stars and released into space when stars die or explode (supernovae).  Heavy elements in the human body, like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and iron were forged inside ancient stars billions of years ago.  When people say humans are made of stardust, it means our physical atoms came from exploded stars.  Different sizes and types of exploding stars forge distinct varieties of cosmic dust by manufacturing and condensing varied heavy elements in their expanding shock waves and stellar ejecta.  These clouds of gas and tiny solid particles grow, change, and evolve as new substances stick to their surfaces when molecules collide.

In 1930, Swiss American astronomer Robert Trumpler definitively proved that interstellar space is not an empty void but is instead filled with vast clouds of fine cosmic dust.  In 1939, physicist Hans Bethe mapped out the specific nuclear fusion pathways that keep stars hot and shining.  The discovery that all the heavy elements in the universe (like carbon, iron, and oxygen) were forged inside stars and blown out into space, is credited to the team of astrophysicists (Margaret Burbidge, Geoffrey Burbidge, William Fowler, and Fred Hoyle) who published a groundbreaking paper in 1957 that proved when old stars die, they explode and scatter these newly made elements across the cosmos, acting as the raw “stardust” that eventually formed planets and human beings.  On the 1980 PBS television series Cosmos, Carl Sagan said that “we are made of star stuff”, which was profoundly important because it translated complex astrophysics into a deeply personal, poetic truth that bridged humanity and the cosmos.  This fundamentally altered how everyday people viewed their place in the universe, moving humanity from feeling isolated on a distant rock to being an active, literal extension of the cosmos.  Sagan gave us the understanding that the carbon in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, and the iron in our blood were literally forged in the hearts of ancient stars and violent supernova explosions billions of years ago.

The phrase, “We are all made of stardust, trying to remember the sky” is a poetic idea representing that our physical bodies are built from ancient star fragments, and our consciousness longs to reconnect with the vast universe it came from.  It seems like the second part of this phrase “trying to remember the sky” was added on to what Carl Sagan said, and this part is usually associated with people trying to remember the bright blue color of the sky on the morning of the September 11 attacks.  Humans have always looked up at the night sky with wonder, searching for answers.  People need to feel connected because humans are biologically and evolutionarily wired to thrive in groups for survival, emotional stability, and physical health.  The song ‘Good Morning Starshine’ from the musical Hair says, “Good morning starshine, the earth says hello.  You twinkle above us, we twinkle below.”  This is an affectionate, whimsical greeting that expresses a joyful connection to the universe and shared existence.  Lyrics from the Joni Mitchell song ‘Woodstock’ say, “We are stardust, we are golden, and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden”, which expresses a deep human yearning to reconnect with our natural, innocent, and spiritual roots.   This reminds us of our cosmic origins and our connection to the universe, where the atoms inside our bodies were created inside ancient stars that exploded long ago.

Written for Reena’s Xploration Challenge #446 where today she gave us three different quotes to inspire us, and I selected the first one.
We are all made of stardust, trying to remember the sky.
Reality is a mirror polished by imagination.
To know yourself is to meet a stranger everyday.

Thursday Inspiration #339 El Condor Pasa (If I Could)

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Respond to this challenge by either using the prompt word sound, or going with the above picture, or by means of the song ‘El Condor Pasa (If I Could)’, or by going with another song by Simon & Garfunkel, or a song that is about freedom, or another song that encountered copyright issues, or write a poem or a story about wanting to be something else, or you can go with whatever you think fits.  The Simon & Garfunkel song ‘El Condor Pasa (If I Could)’ was recorded on their 1970 fifth and final studio album Bridge Over Troubled Water, and the single charted #18 in the US on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.  I love this song even though it gets stuck in my head, which is due to its repetitive, hypnotic Andean melody and simple, memorable vocal phrasing.  The traditional Andean melody uses a simple melodic pattern that is easy for the human brain to retain and loop.  The song repeats the same rising and falling flute and vocal motifs multiple times without a complex shifting chorus.  The rhythmic, marching folk percussion creates a persistent pulse that keeps the brain ticking along to the beat.  The melody is bigger and older than any modern nation-state or official copyright or global popularity dating back centuries, as it originated from an Indigenous musical genre with a unique rhythm and sound from the Andes played with drums and antara/siku (panpipes/pan flute).  The tight, soaring unison and harmonic blend by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel creates an emotional resonance that leaves a mental trace.

This song started out as an Andean folk melody that Paul Simon came across in 1969 when he played a week-long engagement at a theater in Paris along with the South American group Los Incas, who played an instrumental version of the song called ‘Paso Del Condor’, and Simon decided to put words to it.  The melody is an Andean folk tune written in 1913 by Peruvian composer Daniel Alomía Robles which he collected and adapted the melody from a pasacalle (a lively street march) and a huayno (a pre-Hispanic era folk dance) while he was traveling through the central Andes of Peru as an ethnomusicologist (a researcher who studies music within its cultural, social, and human context, looking at what music means to the people who make and enjoy it) for a musical play (zarzuela) of the same name.  Zarzuela is a traditional Spanish musical theater genre that mixes spoken dialogue, singing, and dancing.  This arrangement was later copyrighted by him as piano sheet music in the United States in 1933.  The original Peruvian play whose script was written by Julio de La Paz (Julio Baudouin) and carried political meanings of protest. It tells a story of power struggle where indigenous miners are rebelling against an abusive mine owner, as they were facing the local environmental destruction caused by mining along with impoverished conditions.

Paul Simon’s adaptation shifted the meaning into a personal, poetic meditation on freedom and his reflective lyrics flowed naturally within the Andean musical landscape.  This song creates imagery of the condor, a bird with enormous wingspan that soars without flapping its wings.  This constitutes freedom, and it is paired the nature of being human, where we have the capacity for regret, wanting to be something else, but we are stuck with who we are, never having the freedom that we desire.  Los Incas recorded the instrumental backing for this track in Paris, using traditional Andean instruments including the quena (a notched end-blown flute), the charango (a small, fretted instrument from the lute family, traditionally featuring a sound box made from a dried armadillo shell), and various percussion instruments native to the region.  Simon overdubbed his vocals onto that existing recording while playing an acoustic guitar, a technique that was relatively unconventional for the time and that gave this track its distinctive quality of seeming to exist in multiple sonic worlds at once.  When Simon asked for permission to use the tune, Los Incas’ band leader Jorge Milchberg told him it was an 18th-century traditional folk melody and that he was registered as the arranger.  After the song became a global hit, the composer’s son filed a successful copyright lawsuit, though he noted it had been an honest mistake by Simon based on Milchberg’s incorrect information.

Away, I’d rather sail away
Like a swan that’s here and gone
A man gets tied up to the ground
He gives the world its saddest sound
Its saddest sound

Unique Bonding Properties

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Without carbon, life as we know it could not exist, and physical structures, ecosystems, and human industries would completely vanish.  Carbon is essential to life because its atomic structure allows it to form stable, versatile bonds with up to four other atoms, serving as the chemical backbone for all living organisms.  Carbon forms the backbone of essential organic molecules, including DNA, RNA, proteins, fats, and sugars.  Carbon has four electrons in its outer shell, allowing it to form four strong covalent bonds with other elements like hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus.  Hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus are all strictly necessary for known life on Earth.  Biogenic elements are the basic chemical elements that form all living things and support life processes.  Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are the four elements make up the bulk of living matter.  They build proteins, fats, and DNA.  Phosphorus and sulfur are also important, because they are necessary for critical functions, as phosphorus stores cell energy, and sulfur holds protein shapes together.

The Sun currently fuses hydrogen into helium in its core.  After the hydrogen is gone, the Sun will expand into a red giant and start fusing helium into carbon and oxygen.  Once the helium in the Sun’s core turns into carbon and oxygen, the Sun lacks the mass and gravitational force to compress and heat the core enough to ignite carbon.  Carbon burning requires core temperatures of about 600 million degrees Celsius (600 million K), which only massive stars can achieve.  Instead of burning carbon, the Sun will gently shed its outer layers into space.  The remaining core will become a dense, glowing white dwarf made mostly of carbon and oxygen, which will slowly cool over trillions of years

In the form of carbon dioxide (a specific chemical compound made of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms), carbon acts as a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere, keeping Earth warm enough to support life. Carbon dioxide is very easy to form and is created spontaneously through common, everyday processes like burning, breathing, and decay.  Carbon and oxygen naturally want to bond when energy or heat is present, forming a very stable molecule. A simple spark or a small amount of heat is enough to start a combustion reaction that quickly produces carbon dioxide.  All humans and animals take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide as a natural waste product when they breathe.  Carbon moves continuously between the atmosphere, oceans, soil, and living organisms, maintaining the balance of Earth’s ecosystems.

Carbon can turn into diamond when it is exposed to massive amounts of both extreme heat and intense pressure.  This heat (temperatures reaching around 2,200°F) and pressure (reaching about 725,000 pounds per square inch) forces carbon atoms to bond in a tight, 3D tetrahedral structure, where each atom connects to four others.  This unique arrangement makes diamond the hardest natural material on Earth.  A large portion of the carbon that created natural diamonds was already present in the Earth’s interior from the dust and meteorites that accreted to build our planet 4.5 billion years ago.  This pristine carbon remained locked away in stable continental roots called cratons, slowly crystallizing under immense heat and pressure.  Some ancient diamonds contain chemical “fingerprints” showing their carbon once belonged to primitive marine carbonates (like limestone or carbon-rich sediments from ancient seabeds).  Through subduction, tectonic plates dragged these non-plant, inorganic surface materials deep into the mantle long before land plants ever evolved.  Most people that saw Superman crush a lump of coal into a diamond believe that diamonds are compressed coal, but most gem-quality natural diamonds were formed deep in the Earth’s mantle (90 to 150+ miles down) anywhere from 1 billion to over 3 billion years ago.  This predates land plants (and therefore coal), which is created from dead plants that fall into swamp water where low oxygen levels prevent full decay.  The decaying plant matter forms a spongy, dense layer called peat.  Thick layers of mud, sand, and dirt cover the peat over millions of years.  Intense heat and pressure from deep burial squeeze out water and gases, turning the material into carbon-rich coal.

Written for FOWC with Fandango – Carbon.

Senior Trip

Harold complained, “Who the hell ordered that yellow school bus, you would think someone should know better, as this exceptionally high (relative to the ground) first step imposes a significant safety challenge for us older adults.”  Margret chimed in saying, “Harold you old coot, that is why the bus driver is standing on the first step to help us in, so we don’t trip and fall.”  As they boarded the bus, the driver told them to take their backpacks off and get comfortable, but they should keep their walking canes within arm’s reach.  The persnickety bus driver was monitoring every passenger’s behavior through the rearview mirror when she told them that she hoped they would have a good time at the museum today.  Alice said that her grandson loves dinosaurs and that she was going to take a lot of pictures of them today.  Randy insulted Alice saying, “Seeing the dinosaurs should be like a family reunion for you Alice, you old fossil face.”  Alice said, “It is a good thing I didn’t put my cane away”, and then she whacked Randy with it.  The bus driver pulled over to the side of the road and said, “We are not going to the museum until you children learn how to behave.”

Written for Simply 6 Minutes hosted by Christine Bialczak.

Reality Check

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After the way they’d been treated, why shouldn’t they help themselves?  They suffered through a painful experience that caused a lot of emotional distress.  They were denied, dismissed, ignored, minimalized, neglected and trivialized, so taking matters into their own hands seemed like the only logical path for their survival, to get justice, so they could finally feel relief.  They were being punished for their emotional reactions and perception of reality.  This gaslighting involved a deliberate, long-term pattern to distort reality, rather than just being a simple lie.  They had wandered into Plato’s cave where they were shackled to the wall unable to move or see anyone.  For years they were prisoners with their heads facing forward, so all they could see were the shadows of cutout shapes of animals, plants, and objects, that were being manipulated by some other people situated above them, behind a fire and a low wall.  The prisoners were comfortable with their familiar illusions, and they would talk to each other about the shadows.  They gave praise, honor, and rewards to the person who has the sharpest eyesight to name the shadows quickly or guess which shadow will appear next.

This prisoner is freed by a fellow captive who tells him that the shadows he saw were merely an illusion.  The prisoner is dragged out of the cave, forced to turn toward the light, and escorted up to the surface, where the real world exists.  This rescuer initiates the prisoner’s education, as he makes his way up where there is light.  This was a gradual and transformative process, which is painful and blinding till his eyes are able to adjust.  He begins to see the world outside the cave and realizes that the shadows he once believed to be reality were mere illusions.  The prisoner comes to understand that his previous beliefs were based on limited and distorted perceptions.  Once the real world starts to make sense to him, he returns to the cave to enlighten his enchained comrades.  His eyes are unable to adjust to the darkness inside of the cave, so he is stumbling around in the dark.  The other prisoners notice this, and they mock him for being clumsy.  He tells them they are living in an illusion, but they think he has gone crazy.  They want no part of his reality, and they threaten to kill him if he kept telling lies.  Their reality was built on shadow reading skills, and they concluded that the journey he made up to the surface had ruined his vision.  They only knew the life they now had, and they had no idea they were being mistreated, so they all chanted, “Bring us more shadows!”

Written for Fandango’s Story Starter #262.

Enjoying Nature from a Distance

The difficulty in reaching a natural wonder does not change its physical beauty, but it profoundly changes how we perceive, value, and emotionally experience that beauty.  If we are required to work hard to climb a mountain or need to take a challenging hike deep into a secluded area, this creates a strong sense of accomplishment.  This physical investment tricks our brains into valuing the final reward much more deeply, and this psychological quirk is known as effort justification.  The more difficult it is to reach a place, the fewer crowds it should have, which means less human impact, and this should allow nature to thrive.  When a landscape is untouched, it feels more sacred, pristine, and exclusive than something that can be viewed from the side of a road.  You may have to overcoming physical exhaustion and other obstacles to get there, but when you make it, the awe-inspiring sites make your trip worth it.  Nature can fully awaken your senses, allowing you to see vivid colors, listen to the rustling sound of wind blowing through the trees, or head the rumbling power of a waterfall.  People will mostly do this for the journey, the physical act of walking, breathing, and experiencing each step, as that is what draws them out into nature, although the destination provides a powerful punctuation mark to the effort.  The struggling through harsh weather, steep terrain, or dense forests makes the quiet harmony of the destination feel like a dramatic, peaceful relief.

Some people are more emotionally connected to the natural world, and they experience greater happiness when they are in a natural setting.  Many destinations, remote natural wonders, and historic old towns around the globe can only be accessed and explored on foot.  Certain landscapes lack roads or are too fragile for vehicles, making walking the sole method of discovery.  The Mist Trail is for hikers going through Yosemite National Park to Vernal Fall Bridge, and this is said to be the best place to watch the waterfall.  The trail takes you right alongside the rushing water, climbing over 600 steep granite steps directly through the roaring mist of the waterfall.  The heavy mist interacting with the sun frequently creates vivid, shifting rainbows across the gorge.  Reaching the top of Vernal Fall via this route gives you a breathtaking, dizzying look straight down the roaring crest of the waterfall.  If you take the Mist Trail, you will hear Vernal Fall before you see it, making you part of the experience before you actually get there.  Spring runoff sends water crashing down the uneven granite steps, filling the air with cool spray as the trail climbs beside one of Yosemite National Park’s most powerful seasonal sights.  These stairs which hug the cliffside with large sections lacking handrails or physical barriers on the edge facing the rushing water are always slippery and wet, and they would probably be the death of me, but I am not much of a hiker and walking long distances on dirt paths is not for me.

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #356.

Prefabricated Housing

Russia is no longer a communist country as it functions with private property and market pricing, but this differs significantly from traditional Western free-market capitalism.  It transitioned away from communism in the 1990s, and their current economic model relies heavily on state control, political loyalty, and concentrated ownership.  The Khrushchyovka (seen in the background where the young girl is walking toward) is an unofficial name of a type of low-cost, concrete-paneled or brick three- to five-storied apartment building which was developed in the Soviet Union during the early 1960s, during the time its namesake Nikita Khrushchev directed the Soviet government.  The houses are Soviet typical series of panel and brick apartment houses massively built in the USSR from the late 1950s to the early 1980s.  The Khrushchyovka design represented an early attempt at industrialized and prefabricated building, with elements (or panels) made at concrete plants and trucked to sites as needed.  Planners regarded elevators as too costly being too time-consuming to build, and Soviet health/safety standards specified five stories as the maximum height of a building without an elevator.  These Khrushchyovka apartments were assembled at a factory, then trucked to the site, where construction crews would lower them in place and connect the piping.  This quickly made and cheaply built structure design was selected because the Soviet Union faced a severe and persistent housing shortage, but the quality of houses often suffered, and the uniformity was monotonous.

Years of combat in WW2 had demolished millions of homes and entire urban infrastructures across the western USSR.  Industrialization under Joseph Stalin drew millions of rural citizens into major cities, far outpacing the creation of new residential buildings, so families lived in overcrowded communal apartments.  When Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the leader of the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death in 1953, one of the first things he addressed was the housing shortage and the need for more food.  At the time, thousands of people were living in cramped communal apartments, sharing one kitchen and one bathroom with sometimes up to 20 other families.  People wanted to live in their own apartment, but they were horribly built, as you could hear your neighbor through the walls, and these 50-square-foot apartments had small toilets, very low ceilings and very small kitchens.  The poor thermal insulation left these apartments hot in summer and drafty in winter.  Since there are no garbage chutes, residents must carry all trash down to outdoor dumpsters.

The place was far from perfect, but it belonged to them as long as they paid their rent, which was extremely cheap because it was heavily subsidized by the state, but they now had a place they could call their home.  People living in Communist Russia never felt safe talking about anything outside of their homes because citizens in the Soviet Union faced extreme state surveillance and agencies like the NKVD and later the KGB closely monitored public spaces, workplaces, and streets.  This made the kitchen of their apartment the only place to gather privately, because it was untouched by the regime.  Millions of urban residents still inhabit these Soviet-era buildings, and in Moscow alone, hundreds of thousands to millions of people have historically lived in these five-story blocks, though ongoing city demolition projects continue to replace them.  Residents gained ownership of their apartments after the Soviet Union collapsed.  Many people stay because it is more affordable living there than moving to brand-new high-rises which would cost a lot more money.

Written for Melissa’s Flash Fiction Challenge #392.

Social Media Sites

I am basically only on WordPress, but I did have Facebook a while back and some girl told me that she would like to chat with me on WhatsApp, so I made an account there also.  I think someone hacked my Facebook account, as the last time I tried to log in, it said incorrect password.  I don’t miss Facebook at all, and I have no idea who changed my password, but I guess that someone wanted to pretend that they were me.  I probably still have the WhatsApp account, but I stopped chatting with that girl, so I never go on it.  I heard that Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) agreed to pay a historic settlement of up to $18 billion for allowing suicide and body shaming content on their platform that were deliberately designed to addict children, and shame on them for doing that.  I have watched some videos on Instagram and read some posts on Facebook, but nothing there interests me enough to join or post anything on these platforms.  I know that Fandango had his WordPress account compromised, and that is awful, but hackers and fake people are prevalent in today’s world, and don’t get me started on the dating sites.  These people have no integrity, and they want to make money without doing an honest day’s work.  Hackers and scammers don’t care if they hurt others, as they remain emotionally detached, hiding behind a computer screen in another part of the globe.

I have two virus protection programs installed on my computer PC Matic and Malwarebytes, which seem to be protecting me from many types of cyber threats, but they do not provide total protection against every type of hacker attack, as where there is a will, these creeps will find a way.  PC Matic uses a global whitelist to block any unknown program from running unless it is verified as safe.  It automatically updates outdated software and drivers on my computer to fix security holes.  It checks the dark web to see if my personal information has leaked.  It does not include a traditional incoming network firewall or advanced anti-phishing tools for every web browser.  Malwarebytes watches how programs act in real time to stop new, unknown threats (zero-day exploits) based on suspicious behavior.  Its browser extensions and real-time scanners block dangerous websites, phishing scams, and fraudulent links.  It stops malware that locks your files and demands payment.  It lacks a built-in firewall, password manager, and parental controls (which I don’t need as I am the only one using my computer).

The only advice I can offer regarding account security would be to try to protect what you don’t want someone else to take away from you.  Use strong unique passwords with mixed letters, numbers, and symbols and don’t share them with anyone.  I remember chatting with this girl on the internet and she asked me what my grandfather did for a living and I told her thinking it was great she was showing a real interest in me.  The next day my email password was changed, and she had used a security question about (what my grandfather did for a living) to recover a forgotten password so she could hack my account.  Unless you know someone in person, it is probably not a good idea to share too much information with them!

Written for Sadje’s Sunday Poser #301 where today she asked, “How do you maintain your account security?  How careful you are regarding the security of your various accounts?  Do you have any advice regarding account security?”

I Can Rock On

Nine-time Grammy Award winner Sheryl Crow, who has sold 50 million albums and lives on a 50-acre compound in Nashville, Tennessee co-wrote ‘Soak Up The Sun’ with Jeff Trott a guitarist, songwriter and record producer from San Francisco, California.  She released this song on her 2002 fourth studio album titled C’mon, C’mon and the single reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and it went to #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it got all the way to #16 in the UK becoming one of her biggest hits.  Sheryl Crow began playing with The Tuesday Music Club, a band comprised of Bill Bottrell, David Baerwald, David Ricketts and Kevin Gilbert, which developed into a vehicle for her debut album, but she had a falling out with them shortly after her debut album was released.  Sheryl met Jeff Trott at producer Bill Bottrell’s studio as Trott was picking up some musical equipment he left there.  Trott had just finished playing with Tears for Fears and was transitioning to Pete Droge’s band.  As Jeff Trott was loading his equipment into his car, Crow spotted him leaving with a Baritone guitar (a fretted string instrument designed to sound in a lower register than a standard guitar) and she ran out to the parking lot and knocked on his car window to ask him to come back inside to record vocal harmonies on a track they were working on called ‘Can’t Cry Anymore’.  This initial encounter blossomed into a lifelong musical partnership, as they became core co-writing partners, creating massive hits like ‘If It Makes You Happy’, ‘Everyday Is a Winding Road’, and this one ‘Soak Up the Sun’.

This song was sung as if Sheryl was a young teenager with a lot of oddball friends who can’t really quite make out why people are the way they are.  Crow has no money to afford any luxuries or necessities, but she decides that wallowing in her sadness is not a productive activity, so she reflects on what she currently has and “puts on a happy face” that she plans to spread to others.  Crow was recovering from an unspecified non-invasive, minor medical surgery which confined to her bed as she was on medication when she wrote this song and she wanted it to be an upbeat, cheerful track, hoping this would enliven people living in a post-9/11 society.  Humans are not sponge like creatures, so we literally are unable to soak up sunlight, but “soak up the sun” is an idiomatic expression used to reflect a happy, relaxed feeling.  Sheryl Crow is still active.  She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in late 2023, reversed her prior stance on making full albums to release her 11th studio album, Evolution, in March 2024, and continues to tour making appearances on the 2026 festival circuit.

My friend the communist
Holds meetings in his RV
I can’t afford his gas
So I’m stuck here watching TV

I don’t have digital
I don’t have diddly squat
It’s not having what you want
It’s wanting what you’ve got

I’m gonna soak up the sun
I’m gonna tell everyone to lighten up
I’m gonna tell ‘em that
I’ve got no one to blame
For every time I feel lame, I’m looking up

I’m gonna soak up the sun
I’m gonna soak up the sun

I’ve got a crummy job
It don’t pay near enough
To buy the things it’d take
To win me some of your love

 

Every time I turn around
I’m looking up, you’re looking down
Maybe something’s wrong with you
That makes you act the way you do

I’m, I’m gonna soak up the sun
I’m gonna tell everyone to lighten up
I’m gonna tell ‘em that
I’ve got no one to blame
For every time I feel lame, I’m looking up

I’m gonna soak up the sun
While it’s still free
I’m gonna soak up the sun
Before it goes out on me

Don’t have no master suite
But I’m still the king of me
You have a fancy ride, but baby
I’m the one who has the key

Every time I turn around

I’m looking up, you’re looking down
Maybe something’s wrong with you
That makes you act the way you do
Maybe I am crazy too

I’m gonna soak up the sun
I’m gonna tell everyone to lighten up
I’m gonna tell ‘em that
I’ve got no one to blame
For every time I feel lame, I’m looking up

I’m gonna soak up the sun
I’m gonna tell everyone to lighten up (to lighten up)
I’m gonna tell ‘em that
I’ve got no one to blame
For every time I feel lame, I’m looking up (I’m looking up)

I’m, I’m gonna soak up the sun
I got my 45 on
So I can rock on

Written for Song Lyric Sunday where the theme is to find a song that celebrates sandy beaches.

National Beach Day

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National Beach Day celebrates all the sandy beaches across the nation annually on August 30.  It was established in 2014 by lifestyle expert Colleen Paige, and the day highlights the beauty of our coastlines, lakes, and rivers, while promoting safe recreation and environmental cleanup to protect marine life and it provides an opportunity to help keep those relaxing places clean, so we can continue to enjoy them long into the future.  It is a good day to go swimming, get involved with water sports, do some sunbathing, play Frisbee, volleyball or walk on the beach and feel the sand between your toes.  You could float along in the surf on a hot summer day with friends to creates summer memories for years to come.  Plan a beach trip, and don’t forget to pack a few icy beverages and a good book to take with you and make sure to bring your tunes.  National Beach Day right at the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, meaning coastal celebrations are frequently threatened, disrupted, or outright ruined by tropical storms and hurricanes.  Enjoy the beaches while you can, as natural sandy beaches will not last forever in their current locations.  Rising sea levels, intense storms, and human development are causing severe coastal erosion worldwide.  Experts warn that up to half of the world’s sandy beaches could disappear by the end of the 21st century.

Last week we had Celebrating Go Topless Day where the theme was to find a song that mentions bare, birthday suit, buff, exposed, liberated, naked, naturist, nude, or skin.  This week the theme is to find a song that celebrates sandy beaches.  Take some time to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this music challenge, and even better, read as many of them as you can as you will probably find many enjoyable songs and it is quite possible that you will learn a thing or two.  Share your music with others and post a video, try do some research and let everyone know something about the song that you post.  Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.

Suggestions
• If the song you select does not meet the criteria, then please explain why you chose this song.
• It would be good if you could post the lyrics to the song of your choice, as this is helpful for the people that want to follow along with the music.  Warning: Bloggers make posts at their own risk, and since song lyrics are copyrighted, you may be asked to take them down from your post if you don’t have permission.  It is highly unlikely estates or artists will sue regular people (although it has happened) especially if the bloggers that do this are not making money from their site, but an artist or a publisher can ask you to remove the lyrics from your post.  I am not a lawyer and there are no rules for Song Lyric Sunday, as we are all here to have fun and hopefully get to listen to some good music.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due. It would also be a good idea to give credit to the singer and the band associated with your song.
• Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but please try not to include too many videos as that just makes it take longer for me to look at all of the other posts.
• Link to the YouTube video, or you can pull it into your post, so others can listen to the song.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.  Have fun and enjoy the music.

This week I will be writing about the Sheryl Crow song ‘Soak Up The Sun’, and next week, I will be writing about the song ‘Time’ by Roger Waters.  The upcoming prompts will be:
September 6, 2026 – Song written or performed by someone who was born in the month of September
September 13, 2026 – Song that was written explicitly as a segue
September 20, 2026 – Song that mentions abandoning, departing, deserting, exiting, leaving, resigning, or retiring
September 27, 2026 – Song that relates to civil rights, oppression, protest, revolution or social change