Me and She and Florence + the Machine

I'm just sitting here listening to the new Florence + the Machine album. I didn't even realize there was a new Florence + the Machine album until I signed in to my hoopla account looking for something else.

They've been playing the single Hunger on the radio, so I knew there was an album on the way. I just didn't realize it was here. I remember they started playing What Kind of Man months before the release of How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, which is sitting next to me. It's on the coffee table. I'm on the floor. It's a CD. I'm a person.

I didn't come here to talk about Florence, although I certainly could. I could tell you about the time my friend Nafisa booked us tickets for a play, but she got the dates mixed up so we arrived at the theatre with tickets that weren't good until the following week. We ended up grabbing dessert instead and talking to some girl whose name I don't remember. This girl and her girlfriend were obsessed with Florence. They went to every concert they could afford, which isn't saying much, because it takes a lot of money to stalk a band.

(Just ask my old friend from Girl Guides, who attended every Barenaked Ladies concert in Ontario in the mid-90s.)

Anyway, every time Florence + the Machine comes on the radio, that random girl I met with Nafisa comes to mind. I don't know if she and her girlfriend are still together and still obsessed with Florence, but I'd like to think they are. On both accounts.

I could also tell you about driving up to the cottage last week, armed with this copy of How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful that now sits beside me. We've been driving to this cottage for 20 years.  In that time, I've learned that we lose Toronto radio stations somewhere past Whitby. It's easier to listen to CDs than constantly be trawling local stations.

On the way up, we listened to Florence + the Machine as soon as we lost our Toronto radio. My mom had never heard of Florence, but after a song called Third Eye, she said, "You know, I really like this music. It's very uplifting."

From now on, that'll always be my association with Third Eye: it's the song my mother found uplifting.

I could tell you a week's worth of stories from the cottage. This year's stories are more life-altering than usual.  And, in fact, I've already told them.  I told them to my girlfriend, in letter form. And to you, in the form of a book of correspondences--my second book of correspondences from cottage country, in case you're keeping track.

If you're at all interested in my musings, my family, and my life, I invited you to seek out Hi Babe: Letters to My Sweet.

If you're reading this in the month of July (2018), you can get your copy absolutely free during the big annual Smashwords sale.

Hi Babe is also available at a bunch of ebook retailers and subscription places, and you're welcome to pay, if it be your will, but if you can get it for free... why not?

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/879056?ref=GiselleRenardeErotica

By the way, here's the song my mom found so uplifting: