MR MAGPIE

Strange day today.  Its been very dark and dismal.  I spent the day mostly indoors and not doing much at all.  No motivation or energy.  But the washing up got done and a load of washing got done. The birds got fed. And I've watched a lot of TV.   And I cooked some nice salmon for my tea.  

When I popped out to the front garden to put some rubbish in the bin I spotted this magpie in the middle of the road. Luckily I had my camera handy and managed one shot before he flew off.  

Musical link THE MAGPIE- by Donovan

Steps today - 1,917

CORONA CLASSIC- Marvin Hamlisch - The Entertainer by Scott Joplin

Another for Black History Month .   Scott Joplin (c. 1868 - 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions and was dubbed the King of Ragtime. During his brief career, he wrote over 100 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became ragtime's first and most influential hit, and has been recognized as the archetypal rag.   Joplin's death at the age of 48 is widely considered to mark the end of ragtime as a mainstream music format.

His music was rediscovered and returned to popularity in the early 1970s with the release of a million-selling album recorded by Joshua Rifkin. This was followed by the Academy Award-winning 1973 film The Sting, which featured several of Joplin's compositions, most notably "The Entertainer", a piece performed by pianist Marvin Hamlisch.  In 1976, Joplin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize