It’s a blue day, as I recall, was a popular. I will now hunt up the lyrics. Found them, Roy Orbison was the artist. I love Roy Orbison.
It’s been a blue blue day, I feel like running away
I feel like running away from it all
My love has been untrue, she’s found somebody new
It’s been a blue blue day for me
I feel like crying, dying, what can I do
I feel like playing, saying I’m glad we’re through
It’s been a blue blue day, I feel like running away
I feel like running away from the blues
How can I make believe, that I don’t sit and grieve
It’s been a blue blue day for me
I can’t pretend and say, that I don’t love her anyway
It’s been a blue blue day for me
I feel like crying, dying, what can I do
I feel like praying, saying I’m glad we’re through
It’s been a blue blue day, I feel like running away
I feel like running away from the blues
As usual it is a romantic song, The guy is unhappy because his girlfriend found someone new. Poor guy says he feels like crying, dying and praying. May I suggest praying??? Hahaha He’ll go on and find someone new – but the same thing will happen to him again, most probably. Once a loser, always a loser. He should be asking himself: Why did she find someone new? What did I do to turn her away??
My blue day has something to do with a guy – but he died in 1948. I am remembering him poignantly today as I am writing the response to Nesh’s This Is\Was Dave
First my Good Morning Greeting. A photo of me dressed in blue, Totally dressed in blue with blue glasses, a blue watch and even blue fingernails which you cannot see in the photo. This was my caption. “It’s a blue day. Good morning from the breakfast room at Penang Lyf.
Nixon is on his way to KL but sent a message.
Me: I am advertisement for your hotel
He: A lot of rooms for imagination and curiosity
Me: Perfect Promo
He: As long as you happy. Hahaha
Me: You are the second person that said that to me and it is only10. It is going to be a blue day because I am writing about my dead Uncle. There will be humor though.
Yasmin sent a very different message. Extremely inspiring.
Me: Beautiful Inspirational message. Will send it to Muslims.
Then later wrote
Me: Did and a few others Hahaha
But now onto Nesh’s blog breakdown and my initial response when reading it. Poor Shamir bore the brunt of it all, but as you will soon see, he was the best man for the job.
Me: Hi Nesh’s breakdown up. When I read it I started to cry and cannot stop. Guess I will go to the pool. So the tears will not be wasted.
He: Hope it wont overflow to the Kashmir.
Me: You made me laugh. It was absolutely just what I needed!!! I am excited about the prospect of drowning the Kashmir. Will do that first in my robe – thank you. Hahaha
He: Your response made me laugh. 😂
Me: Laughter is contagious, particularly mine. Hey – looked out the window. I got help. It is raining. Better find a mate – fast. It is 2 by 2 on Noah’s Ark. I do not want this 2 by 2. I woulda been left behind and I cannot swim
Sent him a photo of the Lyf pool, saying “Guess where I am?” He correctly guessed. I said: “Goodbye Kashmir”
Then Shamir sent the most incredible GIF you have ever seen, saying Soon Kashmir
Me: How did you EVER find that. You get the GIF of the century award.
But now to the response to Nesh’s blog breakdown. Be prepared for sorrow. As I said to a new friend (and fan). There is no joy without sorrow.
To Nesh
Wow!! It is totally obvious – you read the entire chapter – and it was SO long. Shamir and I were talking today – and we both totally agreed. He posted the lengthy epistle, so he knew what he was talking about. What a Dream Team we are!!
I will now share our WhatsApp conversation with readers.
You: Good afternoon Alexis Uncle Dave’s next part is up and live on Instagram. Let me know what you think when you have a chance to read it through
Me: Proof of the incredible job you did? I started to cry and can’t stop. I remember trying to soothe myself when I wrote. “Alexis!! Even if he lived a long life he would be dead today. Now a Muslim I see it was not his destiny to live a long life. I am at peace with it – FINALLY I told Shamir I could not stop crying. He made me laugh. You will too when you see his GIF. It suddenly occurred to me that this will be an amazing book IF we include your breakdowns and my responses. So it will live on and on. He will live on and on.
You begin so strongly. “He was never just a sportswriter. He was the voice of the city, the redhead in the press box who made scores feel like poetry” Now that is poetry, not what I wrote. Hahaha. It is absolutely true, he was the voice of the city, which is why – when he died there was a tremendous void. It is very true – I did find him from such unlikely sources – and it did shape me – continues to do so today. He did write fearlessly (so do I); he did live fully (so do I) and he does, in some miraculous way, edit my sentences. And some lives look small, very small – but I was able to gather voices from 1948 to show why he was never minor and how a newsroom, a city and me kept his life alive.
Bloomsbury, now Regina
There I was in unlikely Bloomsbury. Impossible to imagine a place more different than Saskatchewan. And the only reason I knew about Richard Holmes’ obituaries is from graduate school. Uncle Dave did not go to graduate school – another dichotomy, another disjunction.
The Day Regina Stood Still
I remember editing this chapter resting on Yasmin’e bed – being utterly amazed at the six block long procession AND the sun breaking through as they said goodbye.
The Iron Duke
Uncle Dave was most personable but he was also tough when he needed to be.
The Fifty-yard line that stays full
I do chuckle a bit, doubt that there is a football beyond. Soccer maybe. Hahahaha
Best of them all
I love your language: readers devouring his column like hungry kids, wishing there were more. That is the amazing thing about the written word – short and sweet is best. Not long and laborious
Wild Bill and the Watch
So unexpected the encounter between Wild Bill and my brother. Dryburgh was a very uncommon name in Canada – not so in Scotland. Hey – and my brother had to have the money to be flying business class. Will wonders never cease?? My brother and I would always tease each other – which prepared me for Shamir. He is defenseless – never being raised with his sister. Yes the Cartier watch. I was gifted with one recently – with a blue band to match my eyes. Not a real Cartier but it is the thought that counts. I am wearing it today.
Yellow Clippings, Living Threads
The happenstance of Ned Powers. Utterly and absolutely amazing in retrospect. My uncles guidance shaping his entire life. Ned Powers is my uncle’s legacy. Uncle Dave left no children as legacy – children sometime disappoint. Not Ned Powers.
How a Writer is Made
So exactly true – a demand for truth and time made Uncle Dave a great writer and so many others great writers. Schooling a waste of time says the multidegreed Alexis. Hahaha It is my passion for truth and the time I spend that makes me a good writer.
The Confession
We had many differences. But show up and tell is straight is definitely two traits we share.
I love how your last swipe has my baby picture. I look at it, thinking that Uncle Dave was alive when it was taken. I very much doubt the I have written about this before. I do remember the day of his funeral. We – my mother, father and me – were living in the huts – World War II dormitories coverted to housing for veterans. I was left home with a babysitter, the day of the funeral. The funeral was broadcast on the radio. I remember listening to it. It is incredible because I remember almost nothing of my childhood, A void. This forgetfulness allowed my sanity, it has been proven scientifically.
I was in Bloomsbury learning from his standards and love. I am now in Penang, Malaysia doing the same thing. Alhamdulillah
Back to October 30, 2025
When at Paradise I brought back to Lyf some condiments and food from the refrigerator. Therefore I was prepared!! Yesterday morning I cooked my own eggs in the downstairs communal kitchen. I brought chopped onions and prepared pesto sauce; with those ingredients made an omelette which was a success; declared so by EVERYONE who tasted it. Fortunately, for all my diligent readers and YouTubers, there was a cinematographer handy and available – one of my many ‘grandsons’. You can watch me: Chef Alexis Prepares An Omelette.
While on my channel you can view the last segment of my bed time story and watch me get blown away. Hahaha
More photographs from my blue day morning. I returned to Sood for dinner last evening. Some photos of the food and decor. They are opening for lunch for the first time on November 1, which is tomorrow. I promised to be their first customer. Such fun. Alhamdulillah
