Sunday Music: Bookends, Simon & Garfunkel

Album Title: Bookends

Why I Bought It: This was part of a multi-disk set of the complete S&G. This set is complete; at least, it includes the contents of the five albums the two put out before they broke up.

What I Like (Multiflavored): "America". There are plenty of songs involving trains or planes, but very few about bus trips. This one ranges from the silliness about the man in the gabardine suit to the aching of the final verse, and it's been a favorite of mine for a long time.

What I Like (Silly): "At the Zoo". Anthropomorphization can be such fun.... Honorable Mention: "Save the Life of My Child".

What I Like (Seasonal): "A Hazy Shade of Winter". I have three songs whose titles mention winter (the other two being "Song for a Winter's Night" by Gordon Lightfoot and "Sometimes in Winter" by Blood, Sweat and Tears), and I like all three of them. This one is considerably more energetic than the others.

What I Like (Classic): "Mrs. Robinson". Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio...

Overall: This isn't my favorite Simon & Garfunkel album, but it's fun. I'm not sure I see the point of "Voices of Old People", but "Old Friends" is sweet, and the album also has "Fakin' It" and "Punky's Dilemma".

Bone to Be Wild

The other day, on a whim, I picked up some basted rawhide chew-bones for Buster and Gracie - the first time I've given them rawhide. At first, it seemed as if they weren't sure what to do with them; Buster picked his up, dropped it, stared at it, picked it up again and trotted to his chewing-place, where he dropped it again and lay down, looking at it. Gracie carried hers off to the other end of the house, then put it down and began - well, I can only call it pecking at it. Seriously, she just kept bumping the bone with her nose, then pulling back for a moment before repeating.

Eventually, they got the hang of it. Buster took his onto the bed and began attacking it, the sheets, and the pillow, growling with ecstasy and occasionally rolling on it. Gracie went to work methodically chewing on hers. She was still doing that, from under the bed, at 11 PM. This was not a soothing sound....

Nothing was left but small fragments this morning, so I gave them the second (and last) pair of bones. They're still at it.